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LED dash bulbs – Green

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supercass
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby supercass » 29 Mar 2017 02:11

:shock: This is the thing though, isn't the bulb failure warning system more than handy? I thought it was a legal requirement. How do modern systems facilitate this? You could leave the original rear indicator bulb and replace the white reverse light with an led amber white switchback, appropriately wired which would lead to two indicator bulbs at the rear which I believe to be U.K. legal, the lowish current of the led hopefully only making a small difference to the speed and thus kept in required range. Notwithstanding in most cases we fit LEDs to our cars in the U. K. they are technically illegal.
I think it is about time we had some sensible led legislation that would enable our cars to be legally upgraded. Modern cars now seem like Belisha beacons when lit up which alongside our standard lights arguably renders our cars vulnerable supercass

Cobber
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby Cobber » 29 Mar 2017 10:17

In our harsh Aussie day light, I've noticed the some cars with OEM led indicator/brake/tail lights, their lights aren't as visible as some older cars using good old fashioned incandescent bulbs.
In-particular, indicators with amber leds through clear lenses, the bright summer sunlight renders some of them useless.
They probably work a treat over in dark dingey Pomgolia :lol:
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Tamas Petrunin
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby Tamas Petrunin » 29 Mar 2017 22:38

supercass wrote::shock: This is the thing though, isn't the bulb failure warning system more than handy? I thought it was a legal requirement. How do modern systems facilitate this?

Yes it is a legal requirement, as for how modern systems cope, all the ones I've seen use a CAN bus so each "bulb" is actually a networked device and the system can report if any bulbs fail because it knows what should be on the network rather the old fashioned method of relying on the actual current drawn affecting the rate of flashing to warn the driver.

As for retro fitting LED's into our classics is it really needed ? I personally prefer the slight yellow-ish tinge to our lights rather than the harsh bluey tint of modern LED's but each to their own, the easiest option if you want LED's is to change any except the indicators, it is possible to fit LED indicator "bulbs" and replace the flasher unit with one compatible with the low currents that LED's draw, I designed and built just such a flasher unit for a friend years ago but IMHO it's not worth the hastle.
Cheers TP
Driving a V8 Inca Yellow fhc, now begins the endless quest of tinkering...

prackers
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby prackers » 30 Mar 2017 09:15

I used led's when I re-did my dash, not standard but as near too but using modern instruments/gauges. Initially they were dazzlingly bright but dimmed them by applying black spray paint until they looked about right.
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Howard_B
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby Howard_B » 01 Apr 2017 09:32

One of the common problems is a poor earth on the flasher circuit which stops it working at the correct flash rate, even with the original filament type bulbs. The electronic relays with a separate earth gets around this (and also works with any LED bulbs you may fit at a later date). Consequently its a sensible replacement anyway.

However there does not appear to be a simple replacement double pole electronic relay available for the Hazard circuit (I checked the unit mentioned elsewhere in this forum) and while the circuit can be rewired to overcome this its very simple to fit additional resistors in parallel with the LED flasher bulbs to make sure it all works correctly.

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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby busheytrader » 01 Apr 2017 15:52

Tamas Petrunin wrote:My advice is stick to old fashioned incandescent bulbs in your indicators...........


I agree but for a different reason experienced weekly on my M25 commute. (For those outside the U.K. this is the most congested motorway imaginable on a Monday morning)

LED indicator bulbs are either on or off, there is no in between. If you take your eye off that LED equipped BMW that's marginally in front of you in the next lane for a split second, you may miss the single orange flash that he's used as an excuse to cut you up. Incandescent bulbs may flash at the same rate but are visible for far longer as the bulb brightens up and down during the cycle.

Other cars are available to cr4p drivers that don't look in their mirrors but these appear to the most frequent, Toyota Prius come a close second. (Mrs BusheyTrader not included as she drives a BMW :lol: )

UKPhilTR7
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby UKPhilTR7 » 04 Apr 2017 23:30

Bulb failure warning system, I was not aware that we had one on our cars.
This is the bulbs that I will be ordering to replace the numberplate lights:

GLB239 - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10x-SMD-LED-36mm-239-c5w-CANBUS-XENON-WHITE-NUMBER-PLATE-LIGHT-BULB-CE-/272570935504?hash=item3f767e68d0:g:nnwAAOSwWxNYs-fR

With a 6000K Colour temperature rating and only taking 1.2w so not too bad at all.
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stevie_a
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby stevie_a » 05 Apr 2017 04:58

I think they might be too bright for reg plate, this is mine which looks a lot smaller


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/41mm-3-SMD-Wh ... Sw~AVYuRM5


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UKPhilTR7
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby UKPhilTR7 » 05 Apr 2017 22:24

Look good on yours Steve and I do agree that yours are bright enough. Thanks for the link. I do notice that mine were 39mm and yours are 41. I will go and measure my current ones this weekend and make sure I order the correct ones.
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stevie_a
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby stevie_a » 06 Apr 2017 07:05

Don't worry about the size of mine, you will be correct on size, i just looked and found the type that i had on ebay did not look at the size.

sorry about that.
If it's not broke don't fix it.

Tamas Petrunin
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby Tamas Petrunin » 06 Apr 2017 09:21

UKPhilTR7 wrote:Bulb failure warning system, I was not aware that we had one on our cars.

The simple answer is we don't !

The only system on our cars that warns the driver of a failed bulb is in the indicator circuit and that flashes at a faster speen than normal when a bulb fails, this is a legal requirement and needs to remain for our cars to legally be on the road.

If it wasn't there your car would still pass an MOT because they don't actually check for it as part of your MOT but if your caught without it who knows what would happen ?

But I actually like this system because it tells me my indicators are working so I know oncoming traffic are being informed as to my intensions.

Because the default indicator circuit in our cars relies on a certain current being drawn by the indicator bulbs to make it flash at the correct speed, if you swop to lower current devices such as LED's then you will have to either fit dummy loads (i.e. big power resisters) to increase the load on the flasher relay back to what in should be therefore not saving any electricity or change the flasher & hazard system to one compatible with LED's.
Cheers TP
Driving a V8 Inca Yellow fhc, now begins the endless quest of tinkering...

UKPhilTR7
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby UKPhilTR7 » 08 Apr 2017 14:35

Well some good news and some not so good news. As you can see from the picture below, I put the led's in the dash today. i must admit that they do look good. I do have a few spare though as I did buy a 20 pack lol:

Image

My dimmer switch does work slightly though, which I thought was strange. I replaced the bulbs from the back and left the green lens in to tone down the brightness.

When I read about needing a new relay for the indicator, I only thought it was for when you replaced the indicator bulbs with led's, not the dash ones too. Now my indicators go for a few seconds and then stop. They click once, there is a wait for about 5 seconds and they do this a few times before coming to a grinding stop. The strange thing is the hazards still work all OK.

Oh the white squares at the top are where the covers came out and the picture was taken before I put it all back together.
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UKPhilTR7
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby UKPhilTR7 » 09 Apr 2017 07:42

Well would you believe it. Today, after leaving the car overnight, I went back down to the garage to look into what was wrong. I started the car and turned the indicators on again just to see what was wrong. Amazingly all was good and they were working as usual. Bit slow but nothing out of the ordinary.

I should know by now leave it overnight and thibgs do not seem too bad :-)

The good thing is that the LED's fit the new door lights that I have. So that is two more lights gone.
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UKPhilTR7
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Re: LED dash bulbs – Green

Postby UKPhilTR7 » 10 Apr 2017 03:48

The options that I can see for the number plate bulbs are Warm White 3000K or Lichtfarbe: reinweiß 6000K - 6500K both around the same price. Going on what you say Steve, I think the latter option may be a bit too bright.
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